CRKT Lightweight
Crossbar Knife (LCBK)
Sleek Slicer
Columbia River Knife and Tool’s Matthew Lerch-designed LCBK
(Lightweight Crossbar Knife) pushes the design envelope
without breaking the bank.
Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT) has been prolific at releasing forward-thinking knives over the years, both in their styling and mechanics. The company has a deep design team of custom knifemakers in their stable and Matthew Lerch is one of them. Matthew, known for his clean design, was originally trained as a jeweler/watchmaker and he grew into a stellar knife designer over the years. The LCBK (Lightweight Crossbar Knife) is his latest and CRKT pulled out the stops to make it as good as it could be.
The LCBK 3.48″ blade is a thumb-stud-activated Clip Point design with all the style and grace of a missile. Blade steel is 154CM stainless, a favorite of custom knifemakers before the proprietary particle steel revolution took hold. Some still prefer it as it’s darn good steel. The LCBK’s 4.52″ handle is sculpted black G-10 composite over a short pivot and lock assembly housed in stainless steel liners.
On the lower handle spine there’s a black-coated, jimped spacer bar that is pure Matthew Lerch. The crowning touch is the ambidextrous, pull-down Crossbar Lock located just forward of the upper rear handle spine for easy access. Such “bar lock” mechanisms are a tad rare in the folding knife world and it works like a charm with Lerch’s clean space-age design. The thumb studs, pivot and lock-bar caps got some fancy machining touches as well. Out back there’s a clean, skeletonized pocket clip for tip-up carry. All this goodness weighs in at a paltry 2.80 oz. A drawstring pouch is included
Here you can see the Crossbar Lock conveniently located just
forward of the upper rear handle spine. The thumb studs, pivot
and lock-bar caps got some fancy machining as well.
Why you’ll like it
The LCBK has the clean, cock-o-the-walk styling befitting a thoroughly modern EDC. This is the kind of knife CRKT likes to do, lest you think they’re sleeping on the design front. They’ve done it many times over the years — they never sleep. Although the LCBK is upscale at $215 MSRP, it’s not going to break the bank and given the features and upgrades, it more than justifies the price.
CRKT.com
